Athletics News

I want to extend a word of appreciation to all of you who were so supportive with your encouragement, thoughts and prayers during our recent football coaching search. It was an intense and challenging 10-day process, yet one that could not have had a more positive outcome with the appointment of Art Briles as our new head coach.

With the assistant of Bob Beaudine of Eastman-Beaudine and Executive Associate AD Todd Patulski, we were able to conduct a thorough and exhaustive search that led us to the man who will build a championship football program at Baylor. I am grateful to Bob and Todd for their excellent work.

Coach Briles impressed me as an outstanding Christian man who possesses great character and integrity. He is regarded as a rising star among head coaches having been named National Coach of the Year in 2006. His innovative offense at the University of Houston ranked No. 4 nationally this past year, and he is widely acclaimed as one of the finest offensive coaches in the country. His recruiting ties throughout the State of Texas will serve Baylor extremely well, and his move to Baylor has already had an impact on several prospective student-athletes. Finally, Coach Briles will be an outstanding representative of Baylor and leader in our community.

I know that the entire Baylor family will welcome him with open arms and support him as he leads our football program to greatness in the years to come.

We have other exciting news in Baylor Athletics as well. We have two undefeated basketball teams with both the Bears (5-0) and Lady Bears (6-0) having perfect records as of this writing (Nov. 29).

The Bears host Washington State in the Big 12/Pac-10 Challenge on Friday night at 8:00 in the Ferrell Center. We need all Baylor fans and the Waco community to come out and support the team as they face the sixth-ranked Cougars in what will be one of the top games on campus this year.

The No. 10 Lady Bears are coming off a tremendous homecourt win over California, and are playing great basketball in the early season.

Our search for a new head soccer coach is proceeding very well and we look forward to having the process complete in the near future.

The following are the most recent round of Ask Ian questions.

Ian,

Can you advise as to the criteria you use for annual performance reviews of Head Coaches? I presume wins and losses are a part of the equation but what other factors are considered?

Best wishes and God's blessings to all of you. We are cheering on the Bears over here in Spring Branch!

George M. Vickrey
Spring Branch, Texas

George,

This is a great question. Certainly, coaches are evaluated on the competitive performance of their team. However, many other criteria are evaluated including recruiting, academic performance, commitment to compliance, and external responsibilities. Fortunately, Baylor has a tremendous coaching staff who are doing a great job in all of these areas.

Ian

Hi Ian,

I am a loyal Baylor Bear fan and I am also a graduate student at Texas A&M University graduating in December with my Masters in HR. Bill Byrne, the athletic director at A&M, does something I think that Baylor should do. He writes a weekly letter that is posted on the website every Wednesday that talks about what is going on with each of the sports that are currently going on.

I know that it helps unify the people and also gives the athletic director a chance to respond to emails or questions of things that are going on with the athletic team. I just know I enjoy reading Bill's letter and would love to read it from my favorite school, BAYLOR. Thanks!

Kristen Plato
Houston, Texas

Kristen,

Thank you for the e-mail and excellent suggestion. Bill Byrne at Texas A&M does an excellent job with his weekly update. We use this forum to share similar information with Baylor fans. We work hard to be accessible to our fans through a variety of means including our website Baylorbears.com.

Ian

Mr. McCaw,

I'm so excited about Baylor basketball, both men and women. What a great win for the men last night!

Phyllis Dupuy Bevel
Dallas, Texas

Phyllis,

I share your excitement about Baylor basketball. The teams are a combined 11-0 to start the year and both teams are poised for great seasons. We need our fans to come out to the Ferrell Center to make it a great atmosphere for both teams throughout the season!

Ian

Ian;

Baylor 2012 envisions a world class university with a strong Christian commitment. Baylor 2012, Imperative 10 says "build with integrity a winning tradition in all sports."

How does Baylor 2012 impact your search for a new football coach? What part does the prospective coach's personal faith have in the hiring decision?

Doug Tiffin
Cedar Hill, Texas

Doug,

This is another great question. Vision 2012 calls for Baylor to become a great Christian University, so certainly we need people of faith in all leadership positions and that includes our coaches. We expect our coaches to be role models for young men and women, and having Godly coaches in place is a tremendous advantage that Baylor has over secular institutions. With that, a prospective coach's faith is a vital factor in all hiring decisions that are made in our department.

Ian

Ian;

The new men's basketball uniforms look great. I was not too pleased with the amount of black in the previous versions.

Thank you bringing back the emphasis on our true colors of Green & Gold and dropping the fad of black. Tradition always wins over short lived fads.

Go Bears!!

Matt Beyers
Overland Park, Kan.

Matthew,

Thank you for the positive comments about the men's basketball uniform. I agree that they look terrific!

Ian

Ian,

It is amazing to me that TAMU can hire a coach and announce one day after their last game and that Baylor cannot. I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts.

David A. Sweet
The Woodlands, Texas

David,

While moving swiftly in a coaching search is best, it should be noted that quicker does not necessarily translate into a better outcome. I am more concerned about hiring a great coach, as we did with Coach Briles, than trying to set a record for completing the search in the most rapid fashion possible.